Filling the "HOLE" Back In!

I recently finished reading two books called, The Hole In The Gospel," and "The Radical." These are two books that WILL make anyone stop and think about where their priorities truly lie.

Jesus gave us three MAJOR commandments.....Love God, Love others and his FINAL commandment was to "Go into all the world and TEACH!" Most of us think we do OK with loving God.... But Do WE???? Do we spend more time in a relationship with our TV'S and cars then with God??? Do we spend more money each week eating out then we give to God??? As for loving others....Many of us think we can do this one! Yet, do we really care about the homeless? Do we feed the poor? Do we reach out to those in Africa and other countries dying of AIDS, poverty etc? Do we care about the kids in so many poor countries living in the city dumps??? Do we even care for those in our own communities that are hurting??? Or do we shut our eyes to it most of the time and expect someone else to send aid to them. We in America are so spoiled and take soooooo much for granted. We turn our heads to those hurting and in trouble nearly on a daily basis. I fail miserably at these first two commandments many days of my life, but THEN there is that third and final commandment that Jesus gave us, to go teach, and it seems a bit tougher yet! It really takes us out of our comfort zone, does it not???? We can make all kinds of excuses like I am not outgoing, I am not a speaker, I am not a teacher, I am not a world traveler, and I have no money or resources. But even with ALL the excuses, ALL of us can do SOMETHING!! If we truly love others and God, we WILL introduce others to Jesus, PERIOD! God is our maker and our comforter. His grace and love has saved us. Why would we not share this good news??? It is time that I and all of us give up our excuses, our precious relationships with material things and live the kind of selfless lives that God intended us to live. It is NOT about ME and It is NOT about YOU!!! It is ALL about HIM!!!! He has promised us support and victory. He knows the number of hairs on my head and he has promised to provide. So what part of his promises do I not BELIEVE or TRUST him with???

God has always used some of the most unlikely characters to fulfill his purposes. So who am I to think he cannot use you or me? I would encourage all who want to grow spiritually to read these two books. We tend to get STUCK on some of the little things at times in our worship and in our churches and IGNORE the three big commandments that God gave us. Maybe if we would just concentrate more on these three commandments and take SELF out of the equation and focus ourselves more on HIM....we really could change the world! I found the remaining part of the blog in a statement by Charles Stanley and thought I would share it also.

"When a teacher gives an assignment, good students take it seriously. They do what's required, give their best effort, and complete the work in a timely manner.

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus gave us a commandment—an assignment, really—but too many Christians are half-hearted about completing the task. Christ told His followers to share the good news about salvation and make disciples of all nations. Some believers do dedicate themselves to this work. But many are either too busy or too timid to commit their lives in this way.

If we are to emulate Jesus (John 13:15), then our actions and words should touch people as His did. Recipients of the Savior's love were forever changed. As His followers, we have the Holy Spirit residing within us, which means we have access to the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Rom. 8:11)! So by sharing the gospel, providing encouragement, and offering comfort, we, too, can impact others' lives. Jesus commanded that the good news go out to all nations. Of course, not everyone can move to another country. Some believers hear God's call and go. Others stay, but they're still called to touch those around them. They can also assist overseas missions by financially and prayerfully supporting kingdom efforts on foreign soil.

Our Lord was serious about telling His followers to share the gospel. Consider how you spend your time and your money. Does this indicate obedience to the most important assignment you have ever received? What changes must you make to give Jesus' commandment top priority?"

So...in ending, just some food for thought. The Gospel is all about God. his love and what his son did for us. Sometimes when we look at the Gospel though, we leave some major "HOLES" in it and forget these three major commandments. So, this week, I urge each of us to look not at ourselves and what WE need, but look to others and to God's plan for us. See if there is someone out there that you can share God and yourself with. You CAN make just one person's day a little brighter because you cared enough to do so. :) Hope you all have a blessed week!

God Can Use Me. I Don't Need All The Excuses!

February 26/27

The Missionary Call

Matthew 4:18-22

I've heard every reason you can imagine for avoiding missionary service: "I haven't been to seminary." "I can't preach." "I'm too old." "My family won't go for it." On and on the list goes. Let me tell you that there are thousands of active missionaries who once thought that God couldn't use them either. I often have the privilege of hearing their stories of how the Lord turned resistance into enthusiasm.

People can offer God plenty of reasons why He shouldn't call them to spread the gospel. But His call is not issued for our consideration; He expects a response of obedience and surrender.

A believer is accountable only to say yes to God's call. It is the Lord's responsibility to equip the chosen for the work He's assigned. A personal plan has been mapped for each believer's life, and God provides the personality and temperament that suits. Then He adds skills that can be developed and the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill His mission.

God makes His call with wisdom and discernment. He knows why He created you and what you're capable of accomplishing in His strength (Eph. 2:10). Rejecting the invitation to serve Him is foolish. It would be like telling almighty God that He made a mistake. But surrender opens the door to a lifetime of service, blessing, and joy!

Mission work can occur near or far. You could serve: at home by writing to prisoners; down the street by dishing out meals at a shelter; across the nation by providing flood relief; or in a foreign land by translating the gospel. In short, a missionary calling is whatever God tells you to do. Dr. Charles Stanley

Can God Really Do This?????

Do you believe God or do you just not want to change?

Sunday January 23 2011 12:00 AM

We should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:6–7 (NIV)

"You are free, no longer a slave to unhealthy choices. You can choose to let God transform your life and be confident that he will."

There’s an amusing story of a businessman who, at the end of a long day of travel, climbs into bed at a hotel. As he begins to nod off, he feels something crawling up his legs.

Leaping up and fumbling with the light, he throws back the sheets to discover the bed is full of bugs.

Changing rooms is not enough to satisfy the man’s disgust. When he gets home, he writes a letter of complaint to the hotel’s corporate headquarters.

Weeks later, he receives a reply directly from the president of the company:

“We are absolutely appalled that a man of your position and reputation should have had such an experience in one of our hotels. We are deeply embarrassed, and we assure you that we are working diligently to correct this problem. It will never happen again.”

As he reads the reply, the businessman feels great! The hotel management has heard him; they’re committed to making a change; and now every customer will benefit from his initiative.

But when he folds the letter back into the envelope, a small Post-It note falls to the floor. Picking it up, the man sees in a hand-written scrawl, “Send this guy the bug letter.”

This week Pastor Rick showed me I’ve been sending “bug letters” to God. In other words, I’ve developed some standard responses related to God’s commands and directions.

It’s easy to say I’ll get serious about my health, to say I’ll press on to God’s goals, to say I’ll make the changes necessary to follow Jesus toward my destiny, but the hard part is actually following through on those commitments.

Are you with me here? We tell God we can’t change, but what we really mean is we won’t take our health seriously, we won’t stop overeating, we won’t follow Jesus toward our destiny. So we pull out our form letters – our standard responses that allow us to appear sincere when, in truth, we have no intention of changing.

Do you believe God can’t change you or do you just not want to change? You are free, no longer a slave to unhealthy choices. You can choose to let God transform your life and be confident that he will.

Inner Directed Or Other Directed???

An Excerpt from
Oil for Your Lamp
by Lisa Hammond & BJ Gallagher

Virtually every woman we know has the same problem - she knows what's good for her, but she often doesn't do it. She knows she should eat less and exercise more, but still she doesn't make healthy choices. She knows she needs to spend her time and money more effectively, but good time and money management elude her. She finds herself always putting others first, while neglecting her own needs and wants. She doesn't get enough rest or sleep and her endless to-do list hangs overhead like the sword of Damocles. As our friend Brenda Knight laments frequently, "Why am I always riding in the back of my own bus?"

We don't do the things we know are good for us because we are so busy taking care of others that we neglect ourselves. The problem isn't lack of information - we have plenty of information about the importance of sleep, healthy foods, and exercise. The problem is how we prioritize our lives.

Psychologists tell us that some people are inner-directed and some are other-directed. That is, some people focus on their own internal guidance system for making choices about how to spend their time and energy. Their own self-interest ranks very high on their list of priorities. "What's best for me?" is a key guiding principle in determining where they focus their attention and how they make day-to-day decisions.

And some people are other-directed, which means that their primary focus is external, not internal. They are primarily concerned with relationships, especially people they care about. "How can I help others?" is a key question in how they spend their time and energy. Building and nurturing relationships with loved ones, family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers is the guiding principle in their lives.

Research indicates that, in general, men tend to be more inner-directed, while women tend to be more other-directed. There are exceptions, of course, but as a group, men are focused on themselves while women are focused on other people. Men like to build things while women like to build relationships.

This difference in psychological orientation goes a long way toward helping us understand why we women often do such a poor job of taking care of ourselves. We run around filling others' lamps with oil, but forget to fill our own lamps first. Then we wonder why we're often exhausted, frazzled, stressed-out, anxious and/or depressed!

So maybe in 2011, many of us women need to start taking care of ourselves!!

Change is Difficult...But We All Need It Sometimes!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Principle of Evaluation: Assess Your Situation by Rick Warren

“Do not think of your self more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12:3 (NIV) "Do you believe you can change? Do you believe things can be different in your life?" You can’t get to where you need to be until you first know where you are. That’s why, if you want to change anything in your life, Romans 12 says you need to humbly assess or evaluate your current state. Now the reason I say humbly is because we don’t want to admit what’s not working in our lives. We don’t want to admit we’re in a hole or things aren’t working out. We don’t like to admit we need to change. We want to pretend we have it all together. That’s the barrier of pride. Humility is the ingredient for change that will counter our pride. We have to start by admitting we don’t have it all together. What are you pretending is not a problem in your life? Is it a problem in your marriage? An addiction? A problem with your body? Whatever it is, you need to start with an honest evaluation of yourself. Change also takes faith. Do you believe you can change? Do you believe things can be different in your life? Ask yourself how much faith you will need in order to make the changes you want in your life. Is it more than you have right now? That’s evaluating the measure of your faith. I want you to grow in your faith because without faith it is impossible to please God. I want you to grow in the measure of your faith, and I want you to set goals that are so big they force you to grow in faith. Where will you get this faith to grow? Romans 10:13 says, “Faith comes from hearing the Word of God” (NIV). In other words, if you read the Bible more, then your faith will grow, then your trust in God will deepen, and then you will change.

What Am I Planting??

An Excerpt from
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale

George Bernard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."

Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing... he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision.

We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant.

Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds-one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

Remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants - one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant